Since your a cubs guy, is Porter Hodge a cutter and/or zone rate increase away from being an all star caliber relief pitcher? 95 average velo with almost 0 horizontal, but 1 inch below average vert. Sweeper moves 3 inches more than average horizontal and 2 inches more drop. 6’4, 98th percentile extension,but a 5’7 average release height.(The Cade smith thing). All these numbers are from baseballsavant pitcher visualization, so I could be way off on stuff, but could you take a look?
Hodge looks good, yeah. I don't think he needs a cutter given he cuts the crap out of his fastball. I have it at 13.5" vert, which is like 2-3" below average for his release (a lot) and 0" hrz. But it's unique enough to work and should stay pretty platoon neutral. Cubs love this shape. His locations have literally been middle too, so given the zone tendency of the pitch, it's performing a bit better than I thought it would.
I think the fastball is probably the limiter long term here, to counter your point on a cutter and more zone being what makes him elite. It doesn't grade as plus despite results, so if you think he's all star caliber, you think that pitch works better, and if you don't then he'll likely just be leverage and probably need to up the splitter usage to have a big run. I think he's a 7th/8th inning guy long term.
Sweeper is a banger as you said. I love his splitter, he just doesn't seem to be throwing it too much.
Since your a cubs guy, is Porter Hodge a cutter and/or zone rate increase away from being an all star caliber relief pitcher? 95 average velo with almost 0 horizontal, but 1 inch below average vert. Sweeper moves 3 inches more than average horizontal and 2 inches more drop. 6’4, 98th percentile extension,but a 5’7 average release height.(The Cade smith thing). All these numbers are from baseballsavant pitcher visualization, so I could be way off on stuff, but could you take a look?
Hodge looks good, yeah. I don't think he needs a cutter given he cuts the crap out of his fastball. I have it at 13.5" vert, which is like 2-3" below average for his release (a lot) and 0" hrz. But it's unique enough to work and should stay pretty platoon neutral. Cubs love this shape. His locations have literally been middle too, so given the zone tendency of the pitch, it's performing a bit better than I thought it would.
I think the fastball is probably the limiter long term here, to counter your point on a cutter and more zone being what makes him elite. It doesn't grade as plus despite results, so if you think he's all star caliber, you think that pitch works better, and if you don't then he'll likely just be leverage and probably need to up the splitter usage to have a big run. I think he's a 7th/8th inning guy long term.
Sweeper is a banger as you said. I love his splitter, he just doesn't seem to be throwing it too much.
Relievers are tough to project, and they're finicky because their samples are small. If you're looking for a resource to find short form before it eventually takes over Savant, you can go here: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/chamb117/viz/PitchLeaderboardv6/Dashboard
Sounds like you're using long form for the fastball.
If you don’t mind, what’s the difference between short and long form?
Short form removes gravity, it's how most analysts and pitchers in the industry converse. I have a video on it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwo3JuwtDAE
there's also this article which makes the case for longform. which is totally fair, but from my experience nobody really talks in long form movement but it is valuable for analysis: https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/36603/pitching-backward-case-long-form-movement/